I have 1,300 hours of play time logged on Steam. None of which I regret, because I’m pretty sure I had fun during most of them. But after seeing the number, I know I need to stop.
Maybe this change of perpective is just me getting older. Instead of craving a silly new game to entertain my brain, I want to feed it now. Feed it with culture. Culture is addicting. I find myself craving music, books, writings, poetry, all of that. Take other human being’s perspectives on things and shove it in my brain and try to make it work with mine. See how others see things. Enjoy what they enjoy.
I want to learn. I don’t want to shoot terrorists. I don’t want to mine coal. I don’t want to place portals. Yes, video games can and should be considered culture. Though I was at the point where I didn’t play them for culture. I played them because they were addicting. I look at the number at the top of this page and I honestly don’t know what I was thinking. It just kind of happened. All those hours.
Most of my hours now are spent sleeping, school, work, or in some social teenage way. My life only became like this 3 months ago at the start of the school year. I get less time to spend in front of the computer screen and as a result I’ve naturally migrated to spending it in better ways. I’m on a mission to satisfy a thirst for new and interesting information. Which, most recently, has lead me to this site. (I love it.)
I’m also proud to say I’ve taken up reading a lot more than I did before recently. This idea in itself gives me a huge confidence boost because I can’t think of a more bigger, more postive opposite to video games than reading. I imagine anyone reading this knows that already.
I still play video games but only when I need recognize that I could use a little brain rotting. Any other free time I have I will dedicate to growing and expereincing. Next time you want to pick up the keyboard or controller, think first if there’s something better you could be doing, because there is.
